Rescue
by kissmyquiver
Summary: What happens when Tony makes Pepper her own suit after Extremis? Pepperony. Set after CATWS & Rated T for mild language, probably could be rated K. I own nothing but the OC. My first fic, so please enjoy :) WARNING: starts off a little slow
1. Chapter 1

**Hi :) this is my first fanfiction! I have written the first 5ish chapters, and will post whenever I finish the next one. I hope that you enjoy it! Reviews, follows, and favorites are always appreciated! Thank you!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters except the OC :)**

* * *

As the CEO of Stark Industries, I am used to a lot of responsibility. On a daily basis I handle the finances of the company, I make deals with other companies, and I make sure that various Stark Industries locations are up to par with company policy and government regulation.

As the girlfriend of Tony Stark, I am used to his semi-erratic behavior, egotistical nature, and stubbornness. On a daily basis, I deal with him too.

After Stark Industries, Tony, and Extremis, I thought I could handle anything. But even I, Pepper Potts, don't know if I can handle Guy Crown.

* * *

If you saw Guy, on the streets of New York, you would probably think nothing of him. Today he wore the classic business suit- white shirt and a black tie.

About two weeks ago, he contacted me. His request was unusual, but certainly not unheard of. Guy wanted to get into the financial records of Stark Industries, but as an unapproved non-employee he needed both mine and Tony's approval to get to the records.

My desk phone rang. "Ms. Potts?" my secretary Lynn called.

I pressed a button on the office phone and put Lynn on speaker. "Yes Lynn?"

"Mr. Crown is here to see you and Mr. Stark." She continued, "Do you want me to send him in?"

I paused. Guy was fifteen minutes early, but I knew Tony would be fifteen minutes late. "Let him in," I decided. I picked up my phone and texted Tony something along the lines of, 'you're late for your meeting, get up here now'. I knew that the only way to get him up from the labs was to make sure Tony knew he was already late. Of course, he wasn't late, but he didn't know that.

Just as I finished the text, Guy appeared in my office. I slipped my cell phone into my blazer pocket and I turned my attention to Guy.

"Ms. Potts. As lovely as ever." His smile was big and his teeth were a blinding white.

"Hello," I started. "You must be Guy Crown." I reached out my hand to his. He grasped mine and we both shook. His hands were like ice blocks.

Guy replied, "That I am, Ms. Potts. The pleasure is all mine." He being somewhat flirtatious and his accent definitely helped. I would be bothered trying to figure out where he was from all day long.

I smiled and maybe blushed a little.

"Mr. Stark is running late again," I continued, "but I'm sure he'll be with us any minute." Just as I finished speaking, my phone vibrated. It was Tony.

Unlock ur door

What did that mean? Confused, I looked past Mr. Crown to my unlocked office door.

My phone buzzed again.

Ur left

I turned to the left to see Tony on my office balcony in his full Iron Man suit. His face plate was flipped up, revealing his scruffy, oil-stained face and he leaned up against the glass door as if to say, "anytime soon, please".

I sighed. He must have come up from the labs. I made my way over to the door, unlocked it, and let Tony in. He triggered something on the inside of his suit and it disassembled before us.

I rolled my eyes. "Do you always have to show off?"

Tony smiled and winked. "I'm just putting on a little show for our guest."

I turned around to look at Crown, who sure enough, was staring at Tony with a look of awe. "Well, would you like to explain to me why you didn't use the private elevator?"

"Barton anchored it to the 88th floor and made a nest right on top of it. JARVIS wouldn't let me scare him a bit by moving it, so I figured this was easier than climbing up 90 flights of stairs from the basement," was his explanation.

Awkwardly, I turned around to face both Mr. Crown and Tony. "Tony, this is Mr. Guy Crown. Mr. Crown, this is Tony Stark."

As they shook hands, I couldn't help but notice the differences between them. Guy's almost bleached-blond hair and cleanly shaven face was like day to the night of Tony's brown scruff. Even their clothes were pretty much polar opposites to a point. Crown was completely business while Tony mirrored him with some smelly concert tee-shirt and a rugged pair of jeans.

"Let's take this meeting to the conference room then, shall we?" I suggested. Both Crown and Tony, agreed and we moved out of my office and down the hall to another room.

Conference room A was in an oval shaped room red and gold walls . After the Battle of New York, Tony and I decided to remodel a good majority of the tower and Tony happened to pick out a lot of colors without my consent. Crown pulled a briefcase out of thin air and laid it on the table. He flipped through to his combination and opened it up.

What happened next surprised me the most. Crown pulled paper out of his briefcase. Actual paper. Most people who came and presented for us used some sort of hologram technology. Sometimes we'd get lucky, and have a PowerPoint.

Tony gave me a super bored get-me-out-of-here-type look and started heading for the door. I grabbed his arm and lead him to a seat. "No."

"But mom…." he whined. I rolled my eyes and he sat down in the big spinny chair I had lead him to. Before saying anything else, Tony kicked his legs around and brought him to his chest, causing the chair to spin.

Crown shot me a judgmental look in regards to Tony, but I just smiled. He continued rifling through his papers for a minute, then started spreading them out all over the conference room table.

I was sitting now, so I leaned in closer to the table. Lots of Crown's papers were highlighted, underlined, and circled.

Tony stood up and walked around the table to where Crown stood. He leaned over the table and started reading, finding something better to occupy himself with.

Crown moved a bit away from Tony before beginning to talk.

"My brother worked for Stark Industries before Iron Man existed. He was apart of the record team that would collect, organize, and store financial data from different Stark Industries endeavors worldwide."

I glanced up at Tony who had returned to his seat. Where was this story going?

"I remember every weekend my brother came home a pile of much older work from the 1950s or something. I was very interested in the older work, but of course he tried to drive me away from it. Every night after he went to bed, I would sneak into the kitchen and look at the records."

"Okay where is this going?" Tony rudely interrupted. "Because I left Bruce Banner in the lab and told him I would be back"-he glanced at his watch-"ten minutes ago."

"Please give me another minute to explain, Mr. Stark." Crown sighed, and then continued. "After examining the expenses for each month, I noticed that every three months or so were extremely off budget."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Yes and?"

Crown's voice became louder and steadier. "And so I created a few algorithms to cross examine the data for some sort of code. And it worked."

Tony sat up straight. "What did it say?"

Guy looked Tony right in the eyes and said, "I haven't decoded everything, but I have reason to believe its a hidden recipe for the super solider serum."

I released a breath I didn't know I was holding.

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**How was it? Constructive criticism in reviews is very helpful! **

**Also, I apologize for sounding so awkward in the A/N. I'm still figuring out how to talk to you guys(readers). Hopefully I'll become more chill as I continue to post haha**

**Have a great day! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi guys! Thank you to everyone who reviewed and favorite-d. A special shout out to Fluticorns for being my first favorite, review, and follow! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel, which is probably a good thing ;)**

* * *

Tony automatically shot up out of his chair and began pacing he length of the red and gold conference room. "But that's impossible!" He exclaimed. "The serum and everything related to it was destroyed in the explosion."

"What kind of evidence is there?" I asked almost hesitantly.

"Well, uh. The algorithm I put out pulled a series of numbers that match the project title and serial number," Guy responded.

I didn't need to ask how he knew the serial number. Three weeks ago SHIELD destroyed itself from the inside out, and Natasha Romanoff, a pretty good friend of mine and a SHIELD agent, made the executive decision to to leak out all of SHIELD's intel onto the internet. Everything SHIELD had on Captain America and the super solider serum would definitely be online, including the project's serial number.

"Do you have a copy of the algorithm and the finances?"

Tony's question was met with the pass of a packet. He quickly began to do the algorithm's math in his head.

For what seemed like hours(but was really only five minutes(as Tony would gleefully remind me later)), we sat in silence waiting for the numbers to be checked. Finally, Tony set the packet down and rested his head in his hands.

"It all adds up," he said. The room had been eerily silent until Crown broke it.

"Of course it does," he replied. "I added it up."

Tony's head shot upwards. "This doesn't leave this room, alright? There is a very good chance the entire serum recipe is here, chemically written. But if it actually is, we need to keep it between the three of us." He looked from Crown to me. "Understand?"

We both nodded and Tony continued. "I grant you access to the records you need, and use of the labs. The employee labs. Not mine."

Tony looked at me, so I continued. "I agree as well. Begin working whenever you're ready. Can I see your cellphone?"

Crown handed me his cell, and I imputed both Tony and I's numbers.

"JARVIS," I called out, "write up a contract for Mr. Crown here."

"Right away Ms. Potts." A minute late a contract appeared as a hologram on the table. Crown signed with his finger and became the newest employee of Stark Industries.

* * *

I shot up in bed. My pillow was wet and hot tears were streaming down my face. Tony, of course, was awake with the bedside lamp on. He sat up, but his arm around me, and eased us both back to the mattress. He looked at me with a face full of concern.

"Hey, Pep," he said. "Is everything okay?"

I avoided his gaze and began wiping the tears from my eyes. The nightmare I had was nothing, just a reoccurring Extremis dream. I asked question to distract him from my tears.

"Did we make the right choice?" I asked softly. "To give Guy Crown permission to continue the project? What if it's real? What if the serum falls into the wrong hands?" My voice became more frantic as I neared the end of the sentences.

I began to sit up again, but Tony touched my arm as if to say no.

"Everything will be alright, Pep. Don't worry. Now that all of the Avengers have moved into the tower, you're completely safe."

I shook my head, eyes wide. "I'm safe, you're not. Besides you guys are always being called places, which makes my safety a tad questionable."

Tony looked up at me, eyes sad, but then his entire face lit up.

"Idea!" he sang. Tony turned his head to look at the clock. "Its about ten 'till five. Let's have JARVIS scan you for your measurements, and I'll make you an Iron Man suit today, Pep."

"What? You know how I feel about the suits Tony," I said, making my best unamused face.

"The best way for you to feel safe is to arm yourself. Besides, I'd feel so much better about leaving for LA next week if I knew you could defend yourself."

I groaned. He was right. The Avengers were still trying to unscramble the SHIELD/HYDRA mess. This meant that everyone would be gone from the tower next week and I would be without my protection.

"Please Pepper, please, please, please!" He was practically jumping on the bed now.

"Okay, fine." I started, "but under one condition." Tony became quiet. "I want different colors."

"You drive a hard bargain, Ms. Potts. How about, we go halfsies on the colors and I'll be in," was his reply.

I sighed. Why didn't I see this coming? "Okay then. No gold."

"YAY!" Tony shouted. He stood up and started jumping up and down on the bed like a kid on Christmas morning. JARVIS took my measurements before Tony gave me a kiss on the cheek. He headed down to the labs, having showered the night before. It was now 5 o'clock, so I headed to the shower, thinking of the events that had just transpired.

In my drowsiness, the only thought I had was, "There is no way he's calling me Iron Woman."

* * *

"JARVIS, is Barton still on top of the private elevator?" Tony asked. He wasn't in the mood to go down 90 flights of steps.

"It appears that last night Ms. Potts asked him to find a less public place to 'nest'. Agent Barton is currently lurking on the roof of the tower."

"Good," Tony responded. "Then the elevator is back up and running?"

"Indeed, sir."

Tony made his way to the sub-levels of Stark Tower and summoned JARVIS once more. "Can you bring up those Iron Woman suit designs we drafted for Pepper last month?"

"Of course, sir." The holograms appeared over the work table and Tony began to work as thousands of ideas floated through his mind at once.

* * *

**I'm sorry that this chapter was a little slower and shorter than the last one... I did warn you this would start out slow ;) Don't worry though, next chapter picks up a bit I think.**

**Thanks for reading! Have a nice day!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! I'm soooo sorry it took so long for me to update, but I have a policy where I have to write a chapter before typing and posting one, so I finally finished chapter 6, but in order to stay ahead I had to type this chapter...and I didn't have any time to do that! I might try to start posting every two days or every other day, but I'm pretty bad about sticking to work-related schedules, so no promises! As always, please review, favorite, and follow!  
**

**Enjoy!**

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A good twelve hours later, the Iron Woman suit was finished. Tony called me down to come see throughout the day, but I wanted to be surprised. On top of the surprise aspect, I had a ton of paper work to do, and Crown had requested my help down in the records department.

I had gone down to the records department around 9:30 AM, right after my morning meeting. The meeting was kind of like a progress report I received verbally from the head of each department. It let me know their to do list and helped me keep tabs on what was going on throughout the building.

Crown wanted me to show him the records rooms and where the expense reports might be. I brought him down to the fourth sub-level where we store the paper records. I spent about an hour with him, and during that time he seemed really familiar. He was nice enough, maybe lacking a bit in the manners department, but overall a really nice guy.

We found 6 more wacky reports before I left him to his lonesome.

I spent the rest of the day avoiding Tony's labs and doing lots of paper work. Eventually, Tony figured out that I was avoiding him, thus he invited me down to the lad at the end of the day.

The elevator doors to the lab opened and I was greeted by the usual mess. I walked to the far side of the lab and said hi to Bruce Banner.

"Hey Bruce!" I gave him a hug.

"Hi Pepper," he replied. Unlike the other Avengers, Bruce had been living in the tower with Tony and I since the Battle of New York. I feel like having a 'bro' to talk to helped both Tony and Bruce overcome their various forms of post-traumatic stress.

"So, I heard you're getting your own Iron Woman suit," Bruce said.

"You heard correctly," I told him. "I'm very afraid to see the second color Tony picked out. Did you help him make it?" Out of the corner of my eye I could see Tony wheeling out a shrouded figure on a foot-dolly.

Before Bruce could answer my question, Tony interjected. "Yes! He helped create one of the most glorious machines in the world of tech today." He continued to wheel the suit over. "Introducing...Mark 1616 Stark Tech Armor Suit."

Tony grabbed the sheet and tore it off the armor. The suit was just like Tony's, exception of color and shape. Mine was more curvy than his was, matching my measurements.

And the color. Where his was painted gold, mine was silver. "I love it!" I exclaimed. I threw my arms around him and planted a kiss on his cheek.I turned to Bruce and hugged him too.

"You better love it!" Tony laughed. "Bruce and I just spent 12 hours creating a hybrid of the standard repulsor technology and a new portable electromagnetic superfield generator."

I got quitter. "Um, new technology?" My face morphed into one of worry.

"We tested it, Pepper. Its safe, don't worry," Bruce promised.

"Would we put you into something dangerous?" Tony asked, slightly offended. I shook my head and he continued. "The suit is equipped for flight, speed, strength, with JARVIS, and the newly added magnetic field manipulation."

I brushed some screws out of the way and propped my head up on one of the work tables with my elbows. I glanced at Bruce and then threw out a question. "So, when do I start learning to use this thing?"

* * *

My phone vibrated in my pocket. Tony looked up at me from his fried rice. We were sitting up in my office. I had some last-minute work to do before I could try out the Iron Woman suit. I had invited Bruce to join us, but he opted out for the rest of the Avengers upstairs.

I pulled my phone out. It was Crown.

"Hello?"

"Yes, hello Ms. Potts. I've finished collecting the financial information I required. However, there is much to discuss with you and Mr. Stark. If you two aren't too busy, could we possibly meet up?"

"Of course," I responded. "Stay in the records area. Tony and I will come to you."

He thanked me, then hung up.

I motioned to Tony to stand up. "Come on, Tony. Crown needs us in records."

He groaned and grabbed his fried rice. "Do I have to?"

I glared and he stood up.

He shoved more food into his mouth and we walked together to the private elevator. The ride was short, filled with the sounds of bad elevator music and Tony's chewing. I hadn't eaten yet; the food Tony for me was back in my office.

The doors opened up to sub-level four. "My least favorite floor," Tony complained. I agreed. It was dimly lit with rows and rows of file cabinets. It reminded me of the prehistoric age. Any and all paper records were in this room.

Tony and I stepped out of the elevator and made our way to the center of the room where a table was. Crown's papers were strewn everywhere. It was almost an organized chaos. If Crown and Tony were polar opposites, then the only thing they had in common was their appearance disorganization.

Crown was sitting in one of the chairs near the mess, so Tony and I took two seats directly across from him.

Tony broke the silence by kicking his feet up onto the table and asking the question of the night. "What do you want to tell us that you couldn't over the phone?" He casually took another bite of rice and my stomach growled monstrously.

Crown gave Tony an annoyed look and then began to speak. "After finishing my financial analysis, I completed the algorithm for each wacky month. I think I've found something. An example, January 1974. The month messed up prior was October 1973. For October, the algorithm got 2 for an answer. I have reason to believe that this is a constant because I got the number 79 for gold, which was highly suspected to be in the serum anyway."

"Okay and this means?" I asked, clearly confused. My stomach rumbled once more. I shot a glare at Tony who set his rice on the table. Then, I stole it.

"It means, Ms. Potts, that we have uncovered some, if not all, is the super solider serum."

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**Thanks for reading! Again, I'll try to post again this weekend(but the new Spider-Man movie!), but no promises. In all honesty, I might have finished this entire story before posting chapter four ;)**

**PS: I just just got my phone taken away, which won't be very helpful when I'm trying to type my story(I hand write before typing). So again, I'm sorry for any delays.**

**PPS: Shout out to my friend Fluticorns who is in the middle(or end-ish?) of an amazing Dramoine fic. I personally am more of a Romine shipper, but her fic makes me want to hardcore ship dramoine! She shouted me out on her story, and so I thought I might return the favor :) so please go support her and her amazing fics!**

**Have a nice day!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, here we go. I finally had time to type last night(while watching N****CIS) and now I must write a TON today! lol **

**Disclaimer: If I owned Marvel, I would have made sure Stark Tower was in the new Spider-Man movie. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Wait, what?" Tony leaned forward, his palms on the table.

I sat up. "So you're telling me that we are in possession of the entire super solider serum?"

Guy nodded. "I only have numbers, but I think that Tony and I could figure out the chemical twice as fast if we worked together."

Tony nodded and Guy tried to hand him the sheet.

Tony refused to accept the paper. "I don't like to be handed things."

I rolled my eyes. This again? "I do," I said, taking the paper from Guy and sliding it between Tony and I. He picked it up off the table. "It was the only reason why he hired me."

Tony chuckled and took a look at the paper. "What can you tell me before I begin?"

"The records began around three years after the lab explosion and ended around 1991-" Tony shifted awkwardly in his seat. It was the year his father died. "-presumably because of your father's death. For as much as there is, we might not have it all."

I sighed, leaned back in my seat, and continued to eat the fried rice.

"Thank God," Tony replied. "The more of the serum we have, the greater the chance of having the Hulk: Part Two."

Guy looked surprised. "But wouldn't you want the entire serum so that preventive measures can be taken to prevent the serum from being used?"

Tony looked him in the eyes, suddenly more serious than he had been a minute ago. "Having none of that serum would be better than having even a part of it. Because we have even most of the serum, the world is more dangerous than it was a week ago. For the safety of the world, after the we translate this, we burn the translations and put the financial records back where they belong. I'll tell Cap about it after it's resolved."

"I second that," I added, chewing my rice.

Crown looked a bit defeated, but instead is persisting, he asked a surprising question. "While my work here is nearly done, is there any way I can have access of a lab on an upper floor for a more personal project?"

I shrugged. "Your key card doesn't expire for almost another two weeks, so I don't see why not."

"So are we done here?" Tony asked. He stood up from the table and started heading for the elevator. He motioned for me to join him, and I did along with Crown. As the elevator moved upwards toward ground level, Tony turned to Guy and said, "You'll have your serum by tomorrow." The doors opened and Guy stepped out. "Oh, and stay out of my labs." The doors closed and Tony and I rocketed up to the fourth highest floor of the tower.

As I continued to eat his rice(it was about empty now), Tony leaned over and tried to get a good view of the container. He huffed and mumbled something along the line of, "all I wanted was to eat my rice," before the elevator doors opened to my office.

"Stay here and hold the elevator," Tony commanded. He stepped out and advanced to the desk. Before he grabbed the white bags of Chinese food and brought them into the elevator, he found my shredder paper shredding machine and forced the sheet Crown gave him down it. He steeped into the elevator and pressed the sub-level button labeled "L".

"Why the labs, Tony?"

"It's time for your flying lesson."

I gulped and he chuckled.

* * *

"A little to your left!" Tony shouted from the ground. The flying thing was a lot harder than I thought it would be.

We had been working for a little over an hour, and I had gotten the take off and the actual flying part down pretty good, but my landings were still pretty messy.

"Okay, now lower yourself to the ground," he told me.

I didn't respond, knowing that if I did I might re-lose my balance and ram into a wall. I've always been a bit afraid of heights, so I could tell that this 'Iron Woman' thing wasn't working as well as Tony had hoped.

I tried my best for him. I think we both realized that after Extremis, I needed protecting. Tony wasn't always going to be there, and I needed a way to defend my self in a worst-case scenario. Maybe I wouldn't be fighting aliens on the front lines, but as long as I was important to Tony I was still a piece on the chessboard.

Besides, it probably gave him more piece of mind knowing I was safe. Being one less thing for him to worry about during a battle would give me peace as well.

I just wish flying was as easy as he made it look.

I started lowering myself to the ground with a bit of a wobble. "You're doing great, Pep." As Tony continued to coax me onto the ground, my landing became more stable. At about one foot off the ground, the propulsors cut themselves and I landed nicely on the ground.

My face plate popped open. "Great job! That was your best one yet!"

I smiled. His face was lit up, and his smile was wide with pride.

"I think that's enough for tonight," I said. Tony nodded and I took a step towards the in-ground disassemble-r.

As the suit came apart, Tony inquired, "Why don't we take the suit out tomorrow? So you can get a better feel for the steering and we can make sure you can land on roofs and such?"

The suit was finished disassembling. "Sure. After my work is done though, okay? I have a lunch with Sue Storm I can't miss tomorrow."

He nodded and grasped my hand. Together we walked hand-in-hand towards the elevator.

* * *

Guy Crown smiled. His work for Stark Industries was finally finished, and he couldn't wait to go into Stark Tower the next morning to work on his "personal project". Thinking about it, Guy snorted. Giving Tony Stark a fake version of the super soldier serum was the best idea he'd ever had.

Conning was fun, he decided before making note of it.

If that Tony Stark actually decided to decode the 'supposed' super soldier serum sheet, he would be in for a real treat. Guy had written up the chemical composition for the world's best brownies and repeated it 5 or 6 times to fill up the sheet.

Crown grinned evilly. He held the entire super soldier serum in his hands. He lied to Tony and Pepper when he said he didn't have the whole serum. During the next week and a half, Crown would be working creating the serum.

He was so excited. It worked on scrawny Steve Rodgers, and it would definitely work on him.

Guy put his work away, and headed to bed.

He fell asleep smiling and dreaming of everything he would do when he became super.

* * *

**Thank you all for reviewing, following, and favorite-ing! I feel that I have gotten a pretty good response to this story, even though I know that it might not be the right type of fic for everyone. So thank you for making me feel special!**

**I will try to update...Tuesday(ish)?**

**Have a nice day!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Here we go! Tuesday! Just as promised! YAY! I can keep a deadline! LOL. The next few chapters are mainly fillers, but I feel like they make a great addition to the story :) Remember to please follow, favorite, and maybe leave a review!**

**Disclaimer****: I wish I owned Marvel and ALL of their wonderful characters. but I don't.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

The car finally arrived. I was going to be at least 15 minutes late to lunch with Sue, but I was sure she'd understand. Every other week we'd meet at the coffee shop down the street from both of the buildings. At first the meetings were once a month and strictly business, but between our companies, Tony, and Reed, a friendship was formed.

Turns out we had a lot more in common than we both had thought. After our fourth meeting, an unspoken bond formed and we agreed to meet every two weeks instead.

"I'm so sorry, Ms. Potts," the driver, Edmund, told me.

"It's alright," I responded, trying not to sound cold. "Don't worry about it."

Five minutes of silence later, I arrived at the coffee shop. I thanked Edmund and hopped out of the car with my purse.

The bell rang as I entered the shop. I purchased my usual and the clerk handed me my change. I thanked her and put the change and an extra 10 dollar bill into the tip jar. Shoving my wallet into my purse, I walked briskly to the corner table where Sue and I usually sat.

"I'm sorry I'm so late!" I exclaimed. "My driver had a few difficulties."

Sue Storm brushed her blond hair out of her face and behind her hair. "Oh no, you're alright. I only just got here too."

I slung my purse over my chair and sat down. We talked business for about a half an hour while sipping our coffee.

"How's the team?" I finally asked, taking a sip of my third coffee. I had moved to a decaf this time, knowing that I would be regretting a third caffeinated coffee later.

She sighed and started with her husband. "Reed is doing okay. He's still a bit oblivious, especially with this SHIELD stuff going on. Johnny is still as insufferable as ever. Yesterday he came back to the Baxter building at 3 AM."

I giggled. "So like a normal Johnny?"

Sue let out a tiny laugh and tried to force a more serious look onto her face. "No, but really! I asked him this morning where he went, and he said he was with that guy, Spider-Man! How did he even _find_ Spider-Man?"

"Whats wrong with Spider-Man?" I asked. The newspaper the Daily Bugle portrayed him in an awful light, but the majority of New York City praised him and his work.

"I'm afraid that if the media finds out they've been working together, the Fantastic Four will be put in a bad light too. We're already taking heat for this whole SHIELD fiasco and we didn't even collaborate with them!" She sighed, and then continued. "I'm worried that this conference thingy the Avengers and the Four are leaving for Sunday is going to end badly for everyone."

I nodded understandably and tried not to be offended. I had met plenty of SHIELD agents like Phil Coulson and was even living with 3 of them. Maybe their organization had secrets, but they did good things for the world. Instead, I brought up a fear of my own. "I've been thinking the same thing. With all of the world's protectors in one place, something really bad might happen. An attack would be perfect when everybody is preoccupied with other things."

Sue's eyes widened as if she hadn't even given that a thought. "Maybe Spider-Man would handle it…?"

I shrugged. Leaning into the table I said, "Speaking of protection, you're never going to guess what Tony made for me."

"Nuh, uh. Let me guess? Your own Iron Woman suit? It was just a matter of time." Sue's grin became wider. "That's awesome! You can join the practically non-existent club of female superheroes! Natasha and Maria will be so excited! Are you going to start coming on missions now?"

"Probably not," I admitted. "Tony taught me how to fly last night, but I'm not ready to do anything more than maybe defend myself."

Sue nodded and her face was understanding. "That makes sense. You have to start fighting crime with the rest of us!"

I laughed at her enthusiasm. "Maybe someday," I told her. "I'm not sure how I feel about the whole thing yet."

"Yes, but when you do, what are you going to call yourself?" Sue was really getting into this. "Surely not 'Iron Woman'." She was all over this 'Pepper Potts fighting crime' idea, so I played along to keep her happy.

I shook my head. "Probably not. The entire reason I have this suit is so I don't need rescued by Tony or anyone else for that matter."

"I suppose you could make some pretty legitimate rescues with it," Sue laughed.

My feelings towards the suit shifted. "I hadn't thought about that...Maybe I should call myself Rescue."

"I love it!" Sue exclaimed. "Alright, Rescue. I've got to go." She stood and gave me a hug.

I returned it and responded. "Don't tell anyone, okay? I'm not sure I want the press to know."

"Don't worry about it. My lips are sealed." She made a zipping motion across her lips and said one last goodbye. I asked the JARVIS app on my phone, who hailed a driver. I awaited my ride back to Stark Tower.

* * *

"How was lunch?" Tony had practically been bouncing around the lab since I got back. I could tell he was really excited for the test flight. With only four days until everyone left for LA, we were both eager to make sure everything ran smoothly.

"Good," I replied pretty nonchalantly. "I told Sue about the suit. She thinks its a great idea and is practically convinced that I will be fighting crime with the rest of you guys pretty soon."

I strided across the lab while waiting for Tony's response. He was tinkering with some newer project. Before he could say anything, I had taken a seat on a stool beside Bruce.

"You are not going to be fighting crime, right?" Tony looked up from tinkering. "I like you the most when you're alive."

"So do I," I responded. "She did help me come up with a cool name though.""

Bruce's face lit up. "Ohhh lets hear it!"

"We both decided on-" I paused for dramatic effect "-Rescue."

"What's wrong with Iron Woman?" Tony complained.

"Rhodey is pretty much already Iron Woman, and there can't be two of us." Tony rolled his eyes.

"I like it very much Pepper," Bruce told me. I thanked him and he walked over to where the suit was being stored. He punched a number into the key code and the glass door opened up. "You ready for a test flight?"

I nodded. "Hopefully."

* * *

**See? Kind of a filler...I think that its gonna be kinda filler-y for at least another chapter, so sorry! Please write a review, follow, or favorite! A BIG thanks to all who did leave a review, follow, or favorite! It means a lot to me :)**

**I'll try my hardest to make Thursday or Friday :)**

**Have a nice day!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm so sorry I'm late! I tried my hardest to get lots of typing done yesterday, but it just didn't happen, so I just finished typing, like now. So again, this chapter is kind of filler-y, but I just finished writing chapter 8, and I can definitely say that the later chapters are going to be much more exciting lol. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorite-d, and followed! I love the positive-ness I've gotten from this story, and it will push me to write more after this story is finished!**

**Disclaimer****: I dont own anything. but maybe the OC.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

The lab at Stark Tower had windows.

Not that Crown was a hater of windows, but that windows were distracting. He was around the 54th floor of Stark Tower, and the crazy view kept drawing his eye away from his work. Crown couldn't help but note how the lab was totally cramping his suddenly villainous vibe.

He sighed. An underground lab would have been a plus.

After trying diligently to return to his work, Crown allowed his thoughts to drift once more, this time to Pepper Potts.

Crown liked her. He really liked her. Heck, he loved her even before that obnoxious Tony Stark knew her name. She was smart, beautiful, and patient. And kind. Always so kind.

Guy remembered back to high school. It was a lot of Guy being nerdy, and Pepper only pretending not to know him. At the time, it had been depressing. Now, it gave him hope. Wasn't this how all great love stories started?

* * *

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" I screamed. Tony wanted to push me off the roof.

"C'mon, Pep!" We were both in our suits and he was trying desperately to get me off the roof and into the air. My body was at a slanted forty-five degree angle and was braced up against his body. "Its the best way to learn!"

I continued to struggle. "But I can take off the roof, so why would I need to jump off of it?"

"So you can recover from a freefall."

"I will never freefall! I promise." I yelled. Tony pulled me away from the edge of the roof and flipped up his faceplate. I did the same.

"Seriously Pepper!" For once he wasn't laughing. "You need to do this so you don't panic when something bad happens."

I sighed and turned to Bruce who had just come up from below. "What do you think, Bruce?"

He stopped devouring the sandwich he was holding long enough to say, "Sorry, what?"

Tony turned to him and explained the situation.

Bruce gave me a grim look before stepping closer to Tony/ "Sorry Pepper, but I'm gonna have to side with Tony on this one."

I glared with him.

"Ha!" Tony shouted. He wrapped an arm around Bruce, who flinched. The Iron Man suit wasn't as feathery as one would think. "See? I'm always right."

"I never said that," Bruce mumbled. I rolled my eyes.

"I still don't want to jump off this building in this metal suit!" I exclaimed.

"I am still not jumping off this building," I told him.

"Don't worry," Tony replied, snapping his faceplate down. "You won't have to."

In one swift motion, he grabbed one of my shoulders with his right hand and underneath my knees with his other hand. Before I knew it, he was cradling me like a baby.

Not even a second later, I was falling. I didn't scream, or even have time to process what was happening. Flying through the air felt so surreal. It was almost as if I was in one of Tony's video games.

Except for the part where I would become a very red and not very pretty splatter painting on the pavement.

In such a small amount of time I was filled with so many thoughts and feelings, but just enough to be overwhelmed. I felt terrified and relieved, exhilarated and nauseous, and unconcerned yet afraid all in the three seconds it took me to get to the ground.

Right before impact, something in me clicked. I activated the pulsars and soared forward, horizontal to the ground. I was about 10 feet above traffic, and I was struggling to stay above the cars. I decided to pull up, so I ended up above the traffic and out of the reach of the skyscrapers.

"It wasn't that bad, now was it?" said Tony over the com. I turned towards Stark Tower to see Tony flying towards me.

I tried not to laugh. "No, it wasn't horrible, but what happens if I puke in my suit?"

"You don't," he told me.

I sighed. "Fabulous."

"You wanna fly around for a while?" Tony asked. I responded with a yes and we flew around for about hour before heading back inside for dinner.

* * *

"Real or Rumor?" the television asked Bruce, Steve, Tony and I.

Bruce and Steve were both draped over the two recliners while I sat alone on the brown leather couch. Tony was in the kitchen behind the living area. He was holding three large popcorn bowls in an attempt to bring them over.

However, after he heard the theme for his favorite celebrity gossip show, he ran into the room with all three bowls. Spilling popcorn everywhere, Toy handed a bowl to Bruce and a bowl to Steve. They both started to say something- possibly a thank you- but Tony interrupted before anything could be said.

"Be quiet, it's starting," he snapped, climbing onto the couch beside me.

I rolled my eyes and pulled out my phone. This show was never right anyways. As I scrolled through my emails, Tony wrapped his arm around me. I snuggled closer.

"Pepper, look!" Tony was pointing at the television screen, breaking the trance between my emails and I.

I looked up. The host of the show was voicing over footage from today. As the picture sharpened I took a closer look.

"Spotted outside Stark Towers today was a second Iron Man. Examination of the footage suggests an Iron Woman, and according to some sources, that woman is Virginia Potts. Currently the Iron Woman of the industry, Potts is the CEO of Stark Industries and also the current girlfriend of billionaire Tony Stark," the anchor told us.

I raised my eyebrows. I hadn't wanted anyone to know about it, but I sighed. I suppose it would have surfaced eventually. I anchor continued and I zoned out. "Tomorrow on 'Real or Rumor?': are Tony Stark's Iron Man giveaways reckless endangerment? How will the military react to te new hero? Have a nice night! We'll see you all tomorrow!"

Steve casually leaned back in his recliner, causing it to spin in the direction of Tony, Bruce and I. "So, was that actually you in the suit?" he asked.

"Unfortunately," I answered. "I'm not entirely convinced it's the best idea."

After Bruce and Tony filled Steve in, Steve told me it was a great idea. "You don't need to fight aliens, or anything else, but you'll really need to protect yourself. By being special and important to Tony, he puts you in a position where people will try to hurt you to get to him."

I nodded and then shuddered, thinking of Extremis.

"I agree," Natasha chimed in. She and Clint had just walked in on about half the story. Their faces and bodies glinted with sweat. "It's really important that you can defend yourself. Pretty much everyone in this room would be willing to risk their life for you. However, I think you should still maybe try the offensive once in a while."

Clint nodded and took a gulp of water. "Sometimes to be on the defensive, you need to be on the offensive."

"So how do I do that?" I asked.

Natasha stole a glance at the clock; it was only 7. The night was still young. "Come with me," she told me smiling. "I'll teach you how to hit back."

"Are you sure?" I asked. "You just came back from a tough workout by the looks of it."

She laughed. "Clint was the one getting tired."

We we walked down the hallway to the elevator, laughing at Clint's protests from the kitchen. I didn't give a minute's thought to how sore I'd be in the morning.

* * *

**This was the longest chapter so far! YAY! Please remember to review and follow and favorite! **

**uhhh...I'm no longer grounded from my phone, which means more updates! I'll shoot for Monday or Tuesday.**

**Thanks for reading and ha****ve a nice day!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Here we go! Monday as promised! I'm really excited for this chapter (even though its kind of a filler) and I'm even MORE excited to see what you guys think about it, so keep reviewing, following, and favorite-ing, please! I've gotten so much great feedback already, and I'm really excited to see how it continues to grow!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel. but I'm pretty sure we all wish we did.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were pretty much the same. I woke up sore, spent the morning doing piles of Stark Industries work, them spent the rest of the day flying with Tony, harnessing the power of the magnetic field with Bruce, and learning hand-to-hand combat with Natasha.

I wasn't an Avenger by any stretch of imagination, by I could now defend myself and quite possibly, the tower. Maybe my flying wasn't the cleanest, and I didn't have much on the magnetic fields, but at least I could throw a pretty decent punch.

Unlike Tony, Natasha was a very patient teacher, and unlike Bruce, Natasha could easily explain how to carry out an attack. It also helped that she was one of my best friends.

After the Battle of New York, we got to talking and soon became really close friends. At first, I expected her to be the stereotypical hard-core Russian spy, complete with the complementary emotional baggage. Let me assure you, Natasha Romanoff was the complete opposite.

Sure she was pretty hard-core(and who doesn't have baggage?), but overall she was a lot warmer towards me than I expected her to be.

On the other hand, for as much as I loved Bruce, he tended to digress while trying to teach me the ways of the magnetic field(or what he called 'the Force'). I couldn't blame him though. He was really excited, and the mechanics behind the magnetic superfield were rather stimulating(not).

Okay, so maybe I wasn't the best student either. I'm my defense, it was really hard to harness the power of magnetism. In the three days I spent trying to learn it, nothing really happened but the accidental shift of a coke can. Looking back on the incident, the coke can might have been Bruce bumping it to make me feel better.

Anyways, today was different because everyone was leaving tonight. All of the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and Maria Hill would be on planes by 5, and I would have Stark Tower all to myself.

Honestly, I was almost looking forward to the time alone. I could spend 7 nights watching my favorite television shows, hanging out with Jane and Darcy, who would be coming later in the week, and avoiding Rescue.

My thoughts and feelings were still changing every so often. Earlier in the week I was completely against it, just yesterday I was in love with it, and today I was ready to melt it down or use it for scraps.

I sighed and started stacking up my paperwork for next week. I'd been working a bit later this week to get ahead for was what to be my week off. Tony gave me the go ahead to completely take the week off, but I turned down the offer. The company would be fine without me for a week, but I was insisting on getting the work done anyway. I hated unfinished business.

This meant that all of the work I could do prior to the day of was done. I had seven stacks of work, flagged, color-coded and labeled. I then stacked the stacks in chronological order and started putting everything away. My work today was done, thankfully. I checked the clock. It was only 3:30, but in the next hour and a half everyone would be on the plane to LA and my weekend of fun would begin.

I grabbed my bag, gave my secretary the rest of the day off, and then headed back into the my office to use the private elevator. I headed up to the floor that Tony and I shared. When the doors opened, my jaw dropped. Looking back on it, I should have expected at least that much.

There was food everywhere. Pizza boxes littered the couch and bottles of soda were stacked like a pyramid in the kitchen. Aerosmith was blaring through the floor's speakers, so I pressed my hands to my ears and hopped around the pizza boxes to the digital control panel on the far side of the room. I quickly turned down the music and then headed to our room.

"What did you do to my music?" Tony asked. He he'd four different shirts in his hands.

"Relax, I lowered the volume, I didn't turn it off," I told him. "Besides, what did you do to my living room?"

Tony smiled sheepishly. "Yeah... I'll... Um... Clean that up for you." He threw his shirts onto a nearby chair and walked forward to kiss me on the cheek. "Wanna help me pack?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Clean up the living room, and we have a deal."

"Yay!" Tony ran past me and out into the living room.

I sighed once more. Tony could be such a child sometimes. It was one of the things I loved most about him, but sometimes he felt more like a son than a boyfriend.

A half an hour later(about 4:15), Tony was finished cleaning the living room and I was finished packing. I hadn't packed for Tony since I was his personal assistant. I still remembered how he liked everything and made sure to include 6 different pairs of glasses, 5 different suits, and his favorite Black Sabbath tee-shirt.

We spent 15 minutes together, watching the television. We sat close on the couch, our feet propped up and intertwined on the ottoman in front of the couch. His arm was wrapped around my shoulders. Every few minutes he leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. I loved it, and wished it could last forever.

I could really tell that Tony was really going to miss me, and it almost made me feel bad about all of the fun I was going to have without him.

At 4:30 we shut of the television and traveled down the elevator to the main floor. A car was waiting outside the lobby with Bruce and Steve already inside of it.

Tony sat down his bag at the curb. He grabbed my hands and held them tightly. "I'll see you in a week," he said. "You will be fine. You can protect yourself." He kissed me once more, this time, on the lips. "Be safe."

I nodded. "You too."

Tony opened the door of the car and hopped in with Steve and Bruce, who both wolf whistled. The door was slammed shut, and I gave a little wave before the car drove off.

* * *

While leaving Stark Towers for an afternoon snack break, Guy Crown saw Pepper escorting Tony to the lobby. He also saw the kiss. Needless to say, Crown didn't like it. But what he did like, was Tony leaving the Tower.

Soon, he thought and smiled. Soon.

* * *

**Ohhhhh... creepy stalker-ish ending. I'm in a good mood because this story finally hit 20 pages on Google Docs. This is the longest thing I've ever typed!**

**So, I've been thinking about other story ideas, and I think I might do a one-shot based on the new Spider-Man movie, and I might write an Agents of SHIELD fic later on... and I definitely want to do an AU pretty soon, but I'm not sure how I want to do it. So stay tuned.  
**

**Also, I will probably update by Thursday, maybe even Friday. I will need AT LEAST three days recovery from the Agents of SHIELD finale, so that might put me off for a while(I might not be emotionally stable enough to write what I need to write). Apologies in advance.**

**Thank you for reading! Please remember to leave a review and tell me what you think :) **

**Have a nice day! **


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey, hey, hey! So here we go, Friday as promised. This was a super busy week, but I'm glad I could update semi-on-time. I got some really nice reviews on the last chapter, so thank you all for those! They made my day! Please remember to leave a review, follow, or favorite! **

**Disclaimer: Last I checked, I didn't own Marvel.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Or not so soon," Guy grumbled. The serum was taking a little longer to cook than he thought it would.

Crown gave it an estimate of about three hours.

Three hours of nothing.

Maybe he'd call Pepper up for lunch.

* * *

"Done!" I shouted. My day was over before 11:30 for the first time in three months. I was so excited to run upstairs and put on a pair of sweatpants, but then my phone rang.

"No!" I yelled. So close! Exasperated, I answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi," came the voice on the other end of the line. "This is Guy Crown. I was wondering if you and Tony would maybe want to have lunch with me at the coffee shop down the the street."

I paused for a second. I was almost surprised. "Um...yes. Of course. Tony actually left yesterday evening, so he won't be joining us."

"That's fine," Crown told me, "just fine."

* * *

At first, I thought the lunch was going to be extremely awkward, but it wasn't. Crown was very polite and actually pretty funny. Once you broke through his cold, outer shell, a warmer interior core was revealed.

He dressed more casually than normally, wearing a grey suit, minus the tie. Guy paid for my lunch, and we sat at the small table usually occupied by Sue and I every other week.

"So how are you doing?" He asked me.

"Good, very good actually, thank you for asking." He nodded as if to say 'that's nice', so I continued. "Tony and the rest of the gang went to LA for the week. This whole SHIELD/HYDRA thing has gotten way out of hand, so they're meeting some people there to try and talk things out before making the Avengers' partnership with SHIELD an even bigger problem."

"Oh, that! I've watched it on the news. Sounds like a hell to be in the middle of right now."

"You have no idea." I took a sip of my soup. "No one seems to be trusting the Avengers or the Four now. Stocks in both companies have plummeted and the polls are a mess." I paused. "Enough about me. How's your 'personal project' going?" I asked, making finger quotations around the words personal project.

For a second Guy shifted uncomfortably in his seat, but then regained composure and sat up straight. "It's been going much better than I expected. I thought it was going to take much longer to gather the resources for and complete, but I called in a few favors, and thanks to Stark Industries, it should be done in the next day or so."

"That's good," I told him. "Am I allowed to ask what it is?" I took another sip of soup, and Guy laughed.

"Oh you'll find out soon enough," he told me. "The trials should be done tomorrow, and I promise to show you afterward."

"Yay!" I cheered, and Guy smiled. We talked a little longer about our lives prior to Stark Industries. Turns out, we went to the same high school together. He was a year older than I was, so I didn't see him very much. I felt kind of bad about not knowing him because he really seemed to know me.

However, the feeling of guilt saw instantaneously resolved when we shook hands and promised to have lunch again. I had friends outside of Stark Tower before Tony became Iron Man, and a part of me really wanted to branch outside the Tower once again. Hopefully the friendship would represent a new beginning.

* * *

Crown looked at the timer. He just arrived back at Stark Tower after having a really great lunch with Pepper, yet there were still two hours left on the serum. He sighed and stepped outside the lab to the lounge. He grabbed a coke from the refrigerator and proceeded to do something he hadn't done in months. Crown say down, and turned on the television.

* * *

My phone rang, so I responded like any sleeping person would.

"What the hell do you want?" It was Tony, and it was also 5:30 in the morning.

"Awe! Don't sound too happy to hear from me!"

I growled at his sarcasm. "I was sleeping! Besides, what are you even doing up? It's 2:30 AM there!"

I thought I heard Bruce snicker in the background before saying, "Tony she's on to us!" I rolled my eyes. The eye roll toggles my inner worry wart and suddenly scenarios started flashing through my head. None of them were good.

"What are you guys doing?" If Tony could see me, they would see a wide-eyed, messy haired Pepper sitting straight up in bed.

"We're in the hotel room, relax," he told me.

I became more frantic and my pulse probably tripled. "How do I know you're telling the truth?" I asked. Tony changed a lot in the last year, but sometimes I worried about him reverting back to his old ways.

I could almost hear Tony's eye roll through the receiver. "Here, I'll have Steve say it. He's probably the most trustworthy person in this room."

He put Steve on. "Hello Pepper!"

"Hey Steve. So what are you, Bruce, and Tony doing in one hotel room?" I asked.

"They had a problem with the original rooms, so they gave us the penthouse and the entire top floor. There was a Say Yes to the Dress marathon on, and Bruce and Tony wouldn't let go of the remote, resulting in our late-night-early-morning activities," he replied.

"I see," I sighed. "Get to bed okay? And make sure everyone else who's up goes to bed too. You guys have a long day ahead of you."

"Yes m'am."

"Okay, I'm hanging up now. If they're a mess tomorrow it's your fault."

Steve laughed. "Okay Pepper."

"Goodnight, Steve."

"Good morning, Pepper."

I hung up, and slept for another hour.

* * *

It was about 11:30 when Crown called me. He sounded excited and happy, yet his voice was deeper than it had been yesterday. It was weird.

"Hi Pepper! How are you?"

"Good, um…who is this?" At first, his voice was so different, I didn't even know it was him.

"It's Guy. I did it Pepper! I did it! Trails are done and it worked!"

"What did you do?" I asked. This was getting weird.

"Come down to the lab and I'll show you!"

It was all a blur, but I remembered asking JARVIS to send my suit to that floor so I could show him. We were friends now, so why not? However, I also remember feeling scared and worried. The way Guy was acting was very out of character, and I didn't know whether to be happy for him, or scared.

I walked down quickly to the elevator, and pressed the floor number, 54. It was the longest elevator ride of my life.

My heart was pounding in my chest and my palms were sweating. Nothing could have prepared me for when the elevator doors opened. But they still did, and I wasn't ready.

* * *

**Hey thanks for reading! Please leave a review, or follow, or favorite, or whatever lol :) Expect the next chapter... Monday, or Tuesday-ish.**

**Have a nice day!**


	9. Chapter 9

**So here we go... I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter... I tried to make Guy as villainous and original as I could... I'm not sure how I like the quality of my work here, so tell me what you think in the reviews! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel.**

**Enjoy(?)!**

* * *

I dropped everything I was holding and covered my mouth with my hands. Crown was crouched on one of the lab tables. His once nice clothes were torn to shreds and his previously small frame was much larger.

The lights inside the lab were dimmed, and the outside world was cloudy and dark. Crown's muscles looked big and covered with sweat, and his torso and arms were much darker than before. His eyes reflected back at me, in an almost canine way, but as far as I could tell, he was still human.

Guy addressed me. "Pepper. You made it." I stepped backwards into the already closed elevator door. I must have made some kind of whimpering noise, because Crown winced and said, "Do not be afraid. I won't hurt you, I promise."

His newfound strength taunted me. I would never believe him. Not in his state.

"What happened?" I managed.

"You know the super solider serum I found in the finances?" He asked me. "Well, I used it to fix myself. I'm smarter, faster, and stronger. I feel so powerful. No, wait. I am powerful!"

"But why?" I began to shift my body towards the elevator button. If I could just hit it, I might have a chance at escape. "What was wrong with who you were before?"

At the speed of light, crown jumped from his crouched position on the table to a spot on the ground 10 feet in front of me. "Don't try anything," he warned, eyeing the hands behind my back.

My face fell and my heart moved into my stomach. Maybe this was the end.

Guy spoke, softer this time, "Stand up straight." I did. "Come here." With wobbly feet and a shaky body, I moved slowly towards him. "Follow," he commanded. Guy then walked slowly to a lab table where he pulled duct tape from a drawer.

He turned to me and then walked towards me.

"No," I said firmly. If he was going to constrain me, I wasn't going down without a fight.

"I don't want to have to do this, Pep," he told me, his arms in the surrender position on either side of his head. My blood boiled. Only Tony was allowed to call me 'Pep', and he barely got away with it. Guy continued to creep towards me.

I screamed and made the split-second decision run. I wasn't very confident in my fighting skills and was not about to test them. Natasha was a good teacher, but like I said before, I wasn't the best student. Unfortunately, in a matter of seconds my arms were tied behind my back, my legs were together in front of me, and a single strip was across my mouth.

Crown picked me up bridal style and sat me on a nearby chair. It didn't have a back, so I had to keep my balance or risk falling and cracking open my head. Guy grabbed a chair for himself and sat down directly across from me.

"I wish we were having this discussion under better terms, Pep." I rolled my eyes. This 'discussion' was going to be pretty one-sided. Crown disregarded my eye roll and then continued to talk. "Had you not made an attempted to escape, you might be able to move your arms."

As he continued to chide me, I zoned out and started to realize how real the situation was. A bubble of fear formed in my stomach, but I forced it back down. How would I get out of this? My suit was here, on this floor, but I didn't know where the mail room was located.

Tony. If I called him, he would come and get me. It would take a few hours though, and it occurred to me that I might be dead or kidnapped by the time he arrived.

I needed a plan, but I had the feeling Crown was about to tell me his.

"I can't even believe that you tried to escape! We're friends! This entire thing isn't even between you and I!" He motioned between us. "It's between Tony and I."

He said that last sentence like it fixed everything. I tried to say something through the duct tape on my mouth like "What the hell?", but it came out more like a "Mppshdhfkssdjkt?". I looked at Guy's face. His hair was grimy and much longer. The tips were obviously dyed blond where his almost white hair had been. His eyes were familiar, and the tone in his voice was edging on something insane.

"Pepper," Crown started, "my name isn't actually Guy Crown. It's Larry Bellasaro, and I've loved you since sophomore year of high school."

If duct tape hadn't been covering up my mouth, my jaw would've dropped open. Larry Bellasaro was a weirdo a grade above me. Not a good weirdo, a bad weirdo, a crazy weirdo even.

He made it his hobby to stalk me and follow me around. At first, the gestures were cute. Anonymous flowers, poems, and sometimes chocolate from him filled my locker. My friends were jealous of me for having an older admirer, and for awhile I basked in the image they gave me.

Until, the beginning of sophomore year when Larry finally worked up the courage to ask me out. I was touched by his efforts, but I turned him down. A month later when I tried to go to homecoming with someone else, Larry freaked out.

He showed up at my house demanding I tell him why I was going with someone else. The situation became dangerous, and three months later I had a restraining order against Larry. He was also expelled from our school. He returned the following year to finish off his senior year, but he was closely monitored. When he finally graduated, I finally achieved peace and finally felt safe knowing that I would never see him again.

Until today.

Here he was, standing I front of me, a monster.

"I know this is kind of sudden, but I've been watching for you. I want to be with you, I want you to love me, I want it to be just us forever."

My eyes widened and I began to struggle, but kept my weight balanced on the chair.

"But I'm going to give you a choice."

My struggling paused and then resumed with more force than before. I wondered for a second about what he could be offering, but then remembered every single movie scene I had ever seen with this type of situation. No psychopath was ever reasonable.

"I will let you go if you promise to public ally break off your relationship with Mr. Stark, and marry me instead. If you choose to stay in your current position, I'll kill Stark, and we'll marry anyway," he told me.

I did the only thing I knew could help my situation. I blinked, and Larry tore the duct tape off my face. I told him I chose option 1.

Crown smiled(Larry just sounded wrong) and started undoing my bondage. I smiled back at him. "I'm glad you made the right choice," he told me, "because I'd hate to kill another scientist." Crown leaned in to kiss me, his eyes shutting.

I leaned in too, smiling, and gave him a kiss. With my fist. Hard.

I sprinted out of the lab and into what appeared to be a janitors closet. I slammed the door shut and locked it, then proceeding to barricade the doer as quietly as possible.

After moving a desk over in front of the doors I realized two things: First, I really regretted not seeing Guy's face when I punched him. Second, this wasn't a janitor closet.

* * *

**So how bad was it? I'm feeling prettttty iffy about it... Sorry Its so late! I wrote chapter 11 yesterday, and as much as I hate this chapter, I think it will get better... I'm still figuring out how to write fight scenes, so bear with me here.**** Expect a chapter Saturday or Sunday... I'm having a bit of writers block, and It should resolve in about a day...**

**Thanks for reading!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey hey heyyyy! Okay, I apologize for the wait, but I have done lots of writing recently, so get ready for the longest chapter yet! :) I really hope you guys enjoy the next chapters! I'm really excited for the rest of this story to play out!  
**

**Happy birthday to Fluticorns, who turned 15 on Wednesday!**

**Disclaimer: I think you guys would know If I owned the Avengers, or Marvel**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Before I could take a look around the room I was in, Guy, whatever and whoever he was, came prowling through the hall.

"Pepper!" He called. He purposely made his voice higher when he said my name, probably to creep me out. "Fine." His voice was a little softer now. I think he was further down the hall. "I'll just kill you both then!"

I heard the footsteps move further away from the door and back into the lab. He was done trying to find me, which was good and bad. It was good because I could remove my nails from the wall and take a deep breath. However, it was really bad because he wasn't lookin for me anymore, which meant he was doing something else. That something else could be utilizing another method to find me, going after Tony, or worse, endangering the public.

When all was silent, I convinced myself that I was safe. I took a deep breath and flicked on the light switch. Besides a faint, blue glow from some kind of machinery in the center of the room, I could see nothing else. The room was familiar, sleek, and very modern. Every floor had one, and they all looked pretty much the same, which was the reason I knew exactly where I was.

I was in a mail room.

The mail rooms were most commonly used by employees, but overall, controlled by JARVIS. Even though most floors weren't equipped with JARVIS, this room always had him. It made communication between sectors easier, and decluttered the elevators.

In the mail room, almost anything could be transported from one floor to another. Important documents, contracts, and other forms were most commonly sent from floor to floor, but if you could fit the object into the industrial sized elevator, you could send it anywhere in the building. Some people did bundles of books, sometimes desks, and just today, my suit.

I facepalmed myself. I had forgotten that I asked JARVIS to send my suit up to this floor. I was going to show Guy my tech before he decided to turn into a crazy lunatic. I rumbled my palms together. I was so lucky.

I ran over to the suit and quickly began putting it on. I began walking towards the barricaded door, and when I did, I picked up the desk I had pushed in front of it and set it aside.

I opened the door and walked into the lab. With this suit on, I should have easily been able to overpower Guy. I mentally chastised myself. His name wasn't Guy anymore! I gave the thought one more moment before deciding to keep calling him Guy Crown. Larry was too much to think about right now.

As I entered the lab, JARVIS notified me of a 'monster' reported running down the street not a block from the tower. It had to be Crown, but my brain wouldn't fully process it until I noticed the fallen refrigerator. The left door was cracked and the right one was shattered. There were broken ones all over the floor and many more missing.

"Ms. Potts, there seems to be a slight breeze coming from your left," JARVIS told me.

Sure enough, I turned to my left and saw the once beautiful floor to ceiling windows in fragments on the floor, leaving a gaping hole in the building. I walked to the edge and peered down 54 floors. Glass crunched underneath my heavily armored feet.

I gulped, knowing exactly what I had to do and did something that I wouldn't have done a week prior. I jumped.

* * *

The fall was faster this time. Maybe it was because I was closer to the ground, but I had almost no time for my senses to kick in. I had to react immediately to stay above traffic or become a pancake on the road.

I triggered acceleration and shot forward, my body parallel to the ground. I dodged traffic while continuing to travel towards Guy.

JARVIS isolated the image of him on my screen and zoomed in on it. It became a small square in the lower left of my screen. I was careful to only glimpse at the image and concentrate on weaving up and out of the New York traffic.

From what I could tell, Tony had found a way to isolate the important sounds and delete the background air sounds. This was great, but my ears were still full of the honks of angry taxi drivers.

Crown was bigger than I last saw him in his monstrous state. Much bigger. The bottles missing from the lab must have been more of the serum that made him what he was. He looked kind of wolf-ish, but more of a prehistoric human. His hair was longer now, and he looked like he had just injected himself with a dangerous amount of growth hormones. His hair was longer and brown, but also very ratty. The tips were a dyed blond-ish white, which was the color of his hair prior to his jump off the deep end. Crown was even taller now too. He looked like he could have easily taken the Hulk had Bruce been there.

Maybe my suit wasn't going to cut it.

A bit of nervousness formed in my stomach. What was I doing? I was only going to use the suit to protect myself, and I no longer needed protection. I was safe. For a millisecond I was tempted to turn back to the tower. Tony would want me there, safe and sound. Maybe Guy was rampaging Manhattan, but he didn't seem to want to hurt anyone but Tony.

I shooed the thought out of my head, ashamed. He was still endangering lives. I couldn't leave all of those people, unprotected and suitless. I had never really thought about it much, but the concept behind the suit's anti-marketed attitude made more sense to me. It wasn't about self-protection. It was about defense and the protection of many people. Tony gave the suits to those he knew would make the right decisions while wearing them. Rhodey had one, and now I had one. It was more than defense, it was trust. Tony trusted me to make the right decision, and I was going to make that decision.

I climbed a little higher into the air and urged the pulsors to increase my speed. They did, and I quickly caught up to Crown who was clamoring down the street. Traffic was beginning to stop because people started screaming and running away.

"EVERYBODY STOP!" I yelled. Guy stopped in his tracks and turned around. My voice sounded so weird with the suit speaker on.

People around him continued to scream as run for cover. Crown lifter up a little boy who had been scrambling around with his mother, who was seeking safety in the building behind Guy.

"My baby!" The mother screamed. My heart broke, but I knew that in order to help, I had to push my maternal instincts aside and focus on the task at hand.

"Look, Guy," I hovered closer to him, "you don't have I do this. It's not you!"

He laughed a low, yet loud and evil laugh. "This is me now. Besides, if I can't have the woman I love, why should all of these weak, puny humans have each other?"

His grip on the young boy tightened and the child let out a yelp.

I moved closer. "I'm going to give you a choice. You put the boy down, and when you come back to the tower with me. We can create an antidote, we can save you! Or you can continue to be a monster and I can take you out."

"I am saved!" Crown yelled. The boy screamed and Guy threw him into the air. I swooped up and caught him in my arms, wincing as his body hit the suit.

"Are you okay?" I asked him. The boy nodded his response. I lowered him to the ground, and he rejoined his mother. The pair ran for cover, and I turned my attention back to Guy, who chuckled once more.

"As for taking me out, Pepper Potts, I would like to see you try."

My eyes narrowed underneath the suit's faceplate. I knew Guy couldn't see my expression, but I was still feeling pretty bad ass and very pissed off.

"So the latter option, I presume?" I asked, trying to lay on the famous Stark snark.

He replied with a Hulk-like roar, to which I smiled. I gave him a choice to be good and move on from the past, and he said no. It made me feel a lot better about going on the offensive for the first time.

I was ready to fight.

* * *

******How'd you like it? Please remember to favorite, follow, and review! Your feedback means everything to me!**

******Its been long, but I'm super excited for the rest of this story to play out... I've decided that after I finish it, I will continue to update my corrections to the chapters(Ik, there is going to be a lot). I am also in the works of a Harry Potter open-to-interpretation-dramione-one-shot, which should be up sometime in the next week or so. Also, I think I might do a Spider-Man one shot or story in the near future, but there are no promises to that. Finally, I might decide to make a sequel to this story where the whole JARVIS/The Vision thing plays out with Pepper's suit. That would proceed to be a comic/movie-verse crossover type story like this one... So tell me what you think in the Reviews, or PM me with ideas; please and thank you.**

******Thanks for reading, have a great day!**


	11. Chapter 11

**So there is a really funny story about why this update is late, so I'll tell it at the end.**

**Disclaimer: per usual**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

The whole 'superhero' thing was completely overrated. Don't get me wrong, the concept was cool, and the suit was nifty. Without the suit I would be dead a thousand times over, however, in the morning I would have the absolute worst bruises ever. Even though the suit protected me, it didn't completely stop every scratch or bump from hurting.

The fight started out when I made the stupid decision to attack King Crown head on. When I told him I wanted to give him a choice, I moved in front of him, blocking his path in an attempt to slow him down. When he decided to fling me away like a rag doll and continue to rampage New York City, I decided to take a second to call Tony and ask JARVIS if he had the list of chemicals Guy used to used to make himself the way he was. JARVIS pulled up the list on my right side and just as it appeared Tony answered his phone.

"What do you need Pepper?" His voice had a twinge of annoyance to it, telling me that he was in the middle of a meeting. I disregarded his tone.

"If I sent you a list of chemicals, would you be able to tell me the possible side effects on the human body when ingested?" I asked, zooming around a nearby building. My tone intended to challenge Tony into doing it for me.

"Yes. You'd have to do it quickly though, I'm kind of in the middle of something here," he told me.

"Okay, I'm sending it now. Its life or death, so I kind of need it ASAP."

"What for?"

"Turn on the news." I hung up and spotted Bad Guy destroying my favorite cafe. The cops had arrived and were attempting to shoot him down. With news helicopters circling and the police not doing very hot, I directed my flight path downward and urged my thrusters to increase my speed. The impact hurt more than I thought it would, but the force of it allowed me to easily tackle Guy from behind. It caught him way off guard and left a pretty badass pothole(or something more crater-like?) in the road.

I had landed on top of him, so I did the only thing I knew how to do. Which was punch. I got a good 5 or 6 blows to his face and a nice accidental hit to the neck. I secretly hoped that he would feel that tomorrow.

He pushed me off of him and the NYPD men and women backed up from their circle. Some of them decided to take cover behind their police cars. It would have been a good idea, had Guy not picked up one of them and thrown it in my direction. I braced myself for an impact...that never came.

I opened up my eyes and saw that my hands, in a defensive position out in front of me, were glowing. They were a misty and almost a faint silver. I stopped examining my hands and stared past them to the police car that was floating before me.

I was seriously confused for a second, but then I remembered. It was 'the standard pulsor technology and the new portable electromagnetic superfield generator'. Three days with Bruce for nothing 15 seconds of actual combat couldn't have accomplished.

Experimentally, I moved my hands to the left. The car followed. I cracked a smile. This was actually pretty cool. Unfortunately, Guy was not understanding my reaction to my newfound ability, so he did the most logical thing he could have done.

He grabbed a car and threw it at me.

Hmmm… I thought. Maybe when his body got bigger, his brain got smaller. I quickly moved my hands to the right and and brought the police car with them. My car hit his and and debris went flying. The police ceased fire when the cars collided and ducked. I had really hoped there was no one inside of them. I had also forgotten people in general. I turned to the nearest cop.

"Can you do me a favor and get people out of here? I don't want anyone else getting hurt." He paused for a second, probably wondering about what kind of authority I had over him, and then ran into the nearest building.

I lept from the ground into the air and began to fly around Guy. I fired beams of light and attempted to move more stuff around with the super field. I was trying my best to keep him from going anywhere, especially since Tony had yet to call me back.

It might've been 5 minutes or it might have been and hour, but there was a period of time between Tony's phone call and the super field discovery that I couldn't stop think of super villain names. I remember being really annoyed because I couldn't think of anything but 'Bad Guy' and 'King Crown', both of which sucked.

A call from Tony interrupted my thoughts.

"It's about time!" I told him.

"It was only, like, 20 minutes." I rolled my eyes before almost being hit by a flying bus. The remaining police and I had Guy contained to a couple of blocks, but it was still exhausting work to try to keep him in one place. No matter what we did, he seemed to be immune to everything we tried. "Anyway," Tony continued, "the chemicals together create a possibly temporary serum that is similar to what the Vikings used to slaughter entire populations. It's like a berserker juice."

"Thankyousomuch!" I sighed in relief, but in that second I let my guard down. Guy picked me out if the sky and slammed me into a building. I grunted.

"Pepper?"

"I'm fine." I picked myself out of the building and went back to attempting to enforce the boundaries.

"Okay," Tony paused, "by the way, I turned on the news." I braced myself for whatever reprimanding would come next. "Keep at it babe. I know you don't want me come, so take him down, lock him up, and kick his ass for me."

I smiled. Toy was right, I didn't want him to leave LA. I could handle this on my own.

He promised to stay on the line, but I told him he could go so he hung up.

* * *

Tony ran back into the conference room as soon as Pepper made him hang up. As he burst through the doors to the conference room. Looking up at him were 5 Avengers, the Fantastic 4, and a buttload of lawyers, publicists, and politicians.

"There's a situation," he told them. There was no panic in his voice, but you could see it in the condition of his suit and the lines of worry on his face. "I'm going back to Stark Tower to help Pepper."

Everyone started talking at once, making the room a frenzy. After 15 seconds of nonsense, Steve stood up and said, "I'm coming too." The rest of the Avengers stood up and and walked out the door behind Tony. Reed Richards looked at his wife and his brother-in-law for answers. Johnny Storm shrugged and Sue stood up. The Fantastic 4 were out the door with them.

All of Earth's heroes were assembled and ready to protect the world-and Pepper Potts- from danger. The fire in their eyes told Tony that he had the right group of people caring about his girlfriend. He smiled, and they left for New York City.

* * *

**Sooooo the 'funny' story is that I got a C on a science test, and it dropped my grade down to like a super high B, so my parents took my phone and my notebook with the fanfiction in it away... It was only for like 5 or 6 days, maybe a week, but I couldn't post at all because I had nothing to type... Also, there were finals this week, so I studied a ton anyway.**

**However, it does appear that maybe this isn't such a big deal, especially with my lack of angry PMs and reviews.**

**Please remember to favorite or follow or review! Your feedback means a lot to me! Also! The Dramoine one-shot will probably be up Wednesday, and the next chapter...Tuesday ish? Maybe Monday.**

**Thanks for reading, have a nice day!**


	12. Chapter 12

**HI GUYSSS! Im soooooo sorry this has been so late, but I have had absolutely no time at all to write or type anything... Except next week I'll have time to write and not to type, so don't expect anything until...ughhhh...um...friday..? I'm sorry, but I'll have lots of time to write another story which is great! so here's to the future? I guess?**

**Disclaimer: uhhhh I don't own anything. like at all.**

* * *

I went on the offensive, tackling Crown once more. This time, he didn't stay down for long, but I still managed to get a punch in. Crown threw me off of him and into a nearby building.

I struggled to stand up. Chunks of debris were everywhere, and my suit was covered with a layer of dust. I finally stood up and jumped through the Pepper-shaped hole I accidentally made.

As I flew towards Crown, I shot a fancy rocket-like weapon at him. It made its target and exploded on impact. By the looks of things down below, the explosion might have even shook the ground a tad. The windows on a nearby building-Bob's Insurance Company-shattered and fell to the ground. The terrified screams of the people inside broke my heart momentarily. I wanted to help them, but I knew that the best thing I could do was either: a, hold Crown off until the serum wore off, or b, find a way to get the serum out of his system. C was a last resort break-glass-in-case-of-emergency plan, that mainly consisted of me killing Crown. I wasn't about to kill anyone.

Unfortunately, the serum could take days or weeks to wear off. I had no clue what dosage he took, or how long each dose lasted anyways, so there was no way of knowing. I was worried. How long would this last? An hour? Two? I could handle that, but a day more? There was no way I would be able to cope with the physical and mental exhaustion.

The smoke shifted away, and so did my thoughts. Guy made surprisingly little noise when the rocket hit, so maybe he was dead. My thoughts returned. I wasn't sure if I could handle the death of another by my hand. You know, assuming someone did already die because of me.

As the smoke continued to clear, I lowered myself to a few feet above the ground. I tried to peer at the shrouded figure on the pavement, but I could see nothing. A breeze blew through and carried the rest of the smoke away, revealing Crown's scorched skin. He was bleeding and sores from his burns were beginning to form. Crown's chest was rising and falling shakily.

For a second I allowed myself to be excited. Maybe I had incapacitated him beyond struggle. The police might be able to detain him and hold him until the serum wore off. My hopes, however, were obliterated when the burnt flesh on Guy's arms and torso became perfect, healed skin. Shit. He had a healing factor, and unfortunately I didn't. No freaking fair.

Crown stood up, looked at me, and screamed. It wasn't a scream of pain, and it was far from the high-pitched blood curdling scream that one usually hears in horror films. His scream was loud, low, and very angry.

I flew above him. I was close enough to shoot at him short range, but far enough out of reach of his grab. At least, that's what I thought. But just then, his newly healed legs lunged thirty feet into the air to make a swipe at me. Crown's claw-like finger wrapped around my ankle and pulled me down. I tried using my repulsors to fly from his grasp, however our combined weight pulled us both to the street below.

Crown landed on his feet, and using the give momentum, proceeded to smash me onto the street. Hulk style. I imagined I looked like Loki being tossed around by the Hulk during the Battle of New York.

My vision blurred and I became extremely dizzy. My body was bent in terribly uncomfortable positions. It put an unbelievable amount of stress and pressure on the suit. Near my left thigh and in my right stomach the suit was actually bent into my body. I wasn't impaled or bleeding externally(that I knew of) but I had a feeling I would feel it in the morning, assuming I survived until then.

Crown was hanging onto my foot, so every time he whacked me to the ground my head was the last to hit. I could feel the whiplash in my brain, and I could most definitely add "neck pain" to my growing list of medical problems. He threw my body one more time into the air. My display screen cracked in the bottom left-hand corner.

"Ms. Potts," JARVIS started, "you are at 50%."

"Thanks, Jarv," I replied, still flying through the air. I was moving upwards, past the buildings on the surrounding street. I was also struggling to regain composite. I guessed this was the free fall Tony had told me about a week ago.

I flailed for a minute and then caught myself. I angled myself straight down and dive-bombed towards the big ugly monster below.

I plowed into Guy once again. I was sensing a pattern here, and if I wanted to come out on top, I needed to think fast. While we were both down I got a punch or two in, but managed to save time for an explosive. I needed time to think about how to detain him, and I couldn't really think when he was destroying the city or beating me up.

This time, I sent down multiple mini rockets at once. I thought about what to do next during his regeneration time.

I could possibly kill him by continually shooting him with explosives during his regeneration process, but I didn't want to. It would be murder, and it would be messy. I wasn't sure my conscience could handle the guilt behind it. Besides, prison looked better on him than me.

I could also call Tony and get his house. However, his stubbornness was wearing off of him and becoming one of my traits. The problem was, I wanted him to know that I could handle this life too. I wanted to prove him right about giving me a suit. I wanted him to be proud that he could trust me.

Or I could run. But that option was definitely out.

I shot another explosive at Guy, who was looking a bit too healthy. "Any ideas, JARV?" I asked the artificial intelligence.

"Well, Ms. Potts, Mr. Stark has included a different set of powers within your suit that can control and manipulate certain magnetic fields. I suggest using that."

"But how do I do that?" I responded. My vision became filtered through a soft purple. When I looked at Crown, a field of rings shaped like an oval appeared around his body.

"The lines you are seeing surrounding Mr. Crown, Ms. Potts, is a magnetic field."

I smiled.

I had just found my magnet, and I had no idea how to use it, but I was one step closer to taking Guy Crown down.

* * *

**Okay so tell me what you thought in the Reviews or by Following and Favorite-ing! Also 31 reviews! Thanks guys! esp. Fluticorn and nancyozz and Banci Taman Lawang, because you guys are amazing and always write the nicest things :)**

**Also, my Dramione fic for Fluticorn is up, so if you like that then please check it out! I have also decided that this story will be 15 chapters long, so we are nearing the end :(**

**Thanks for Reading; Have a great week thing-y!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello...I'm really sorry for not updating...I know that if people had a huge issue with it, then I'd get a PM or two, but I do like that the people who read this are super awesome and lenient and fun :) **

**Disclaimer: I don't own these delightful characters.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

I left the magnetic field vision on for a little while longer, I checked other objects, and other people for the fields.

I noticed that the fields around humans were much lighter than Guy's field, which was a much darker color. I automatically assumed that the darker the field color was, the stronger the magnetic pull would be.

"Ms. Potts," JARVIS informed me, "the human fields are caused by the electromagnetic impulses in the heart, making their fields more of an electromagnetic field. The field is really important to the human body, so it is quite possible that the field is very important to the monster as well."

"Good thinking, JARVIS," I congratulated him. Hmmmmm... Now what could I use to disrupt such a big field? For a second I considered calling Tony, but I quickly shot that thought down.

The last explosive stopped and Guy regained his composure much slower than he had before. Some of his skin even looked a little singed. Had the serum finally started wearing off, or had Guy just been weakened?

Crown stopped and looked around, when he finally spotted me above him, he let out a yell and ran for the base of the tower closest to me.

He is never going to fit into that elevator, I remember thinking.

Instead of bursting into the building, he jumped onto the second story and latched himself onto the wall with his claws. He started crawling up the building, his speed increasing as he became closer to the top. As he go closer, the magnetic field vision, or MFV, revealed that as he got higher and farther from the ground, the field around him became lighter. JARVIS also pointed out to me that while I thought Guy's speed was increasing, he was actually slowing down and decreasing in size.

As Crown reached the top, he jumped out towards me. His reach just extended to my ankle, and his claws latched onto my foot. My breath caught in my throat, which prevented me from screaming. Gravity pulled us both downward, however, this time when I triggered the accelerators Guy was taken by surprise.

My foot wrenched free of his grasp, and I shot up into the air while Guy plummeted to the ground below. I flinched when he hit the road, and the police who had came out from underneath their cars to watch flinched too before scrambling around for cover.

Thankfully, he didn't hit anyone. Unfortunately, Crown stood up, and from where I was, looked kind of angry. Well, more angry.

"JARVIS?" I called out.

"Yes Ms. Potts?" the artificial intelligence asked.

"Is there anyway that the serum that controls Crown's transformation is based off of some kind of metal or magnetic thingy?"

"That is quite possible, Ms. Potts," JARVIS told me.

"So if I get him further from the ground, the magnetic field around him will weaken and the serum will slow?"

"It's worth a try, Ms. Potts." That was JARVIS. He was always with a straight answer.

I looked down again. Guy was already starting to re-climb the building, using the holes and foothold he had made before. I ducked down to about ten feet above him. It had been time to get this thing over with for a while. I hoped that by getting closer to Crown, he would get riled up and climb faster. My ruse seemed to work, and so I dodged and taunted him the entire way up the building.

It was almost exhausting, and it definitely tested my flying skills. When we got to the roof, I flew to the other side and landed. I briefly lost my balance and then regained it. I toppled forward fast and caught myself before falling on to the floor.

When I regained my 'land legs', Guy was on the other side of the roof. He looked at me and I realized how awful I felt. My stomach growled and my throat felt dry. I was starting to feel the effects of exhaustion. I was going to need a nap after this.

* * *

Tony tapped his fingers nervously against the armrest of his brown leather seat. The Avengers and the Fantastic Four-ten people in all- were in the main living area of one of Tony's private jets.

Steve shot him a look. "Hey," he said, "chill out. I'm sure Pepper will be fine. We'll get there before anything and happens."

Tony tried his hardest to believe what Steve was telling him, but there was just one piece of his mind that couldn't completely wrap around the concept of Pepper going into battle. His Pepper, putting on battle armor and protecting the citizens of the city. It wasn't that Tony wouldn't or couldn't trust Pepper to take care of herself against the wannabe Hulk rampaging the city, he just was worried that something bad would happen to the person he cared about the most. Plus, he really liked saving Pepper. Sure she was a big girl, but Tony liked being her knight in shining armor.

Tony looked down at his smart phone. He had synced an application on his phone to Pepper's suit. This allowed information from the suit to be delivered and displayed on his phone. Currently, Tony was checking Pepper's vitals, like heart rate and blood pressure. Both vitals were slightly elevated, but considering the circumstances, the elevation was normal. He refreshed the app, hoping for no drastic changes, and let out a sigh of relief. All was well. For the most part.

Before making an attempt to sleep, Tony looked around at all of his friends. Natasha, Clint, and Johnny were crowded around a corner table with Thor. The three of them were teaching him how to play Blackjack, and by the looks of it Thor was dominating. Reed and Sue Richards were sleeping in seats beside each other rather peacefully. Their fingers were intertwined in Reed's lap and Sue's head was on his shoulder. Across the aisle, Steve was resting his eyes, and beside Tony, Bruce was typing up some kind of science paper on his laptop. The cabin was mostly quiet, with the exception of the card game and Tony's thoughts.

What if Pepper was killed? What if she got hurt? What if she decided that she couldn't handle that type lifestyle, so she made the decision to leave him? Tony's thoughts and emotions were going in all different directions, but they all were centered around Pepper.

For one, Tony was feeling very guilty. Guilty for dragging her into his world, for complicating their already complicated life, and guilty for putting her life in danger multiple times. She didn't ask for it, nor did she deserve it. Tony kind of felt like he had been taking advantage of her, or more precisely, not appreciating her as much as he could. The second this ordeal ended, Tony was going to make sure Pepper knew how much she meant to him.

Secondly, Tony was feeling very worried and anxious. As the minutes ticked by, he became more and more antsy. There was an increase in the amount of finger drumming and toe tapping, until Tony couldn't take it anymore. He stood up and walked down the aisle to the cockpit of the jet.

"Are we there yet?"

"Mr. Stark, it's been an hour," the looker told him. Tony sighed as made his way back to his seat. Steve opened his eyes and gave Tony a look.

"Just four more hours."

* * *

**Okay so tell me what you thought.. good? bad? Please leave a review or follow or favorite :) Anyways, I've decided what my next story will be, and its going to be a college/lifeguard AU. I've only written one chapter, but it will probably be Natasha/Clint centered with a dash of Pepper/Tony (because I love them a lot) and with some of the other Avengers added in. I'm still deciding which way to go with that one, because I'm not sure I want it to be straight Clintasha. Again, I've only written a chapter, so we'll see where it goes. Secondly, there are only two chapters left of this fic :( sadly, after this plot thing-y is resolved it will end. However, I do have an idea for a sequel, but I'm not going to write it if only a few people are down to read it, so if you want it, or would be interested in reading it, shoot me a PM or let me know in the reviews please!  
**

**I'm really excited for the way this story has turned out so far. I'm really happy with all of the feedback you guys have been giving me, and I'm really excited for reactions here in the final few chapters. **

**Thanks for reading; Have a nice day!**


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